Beware the Ides of March

My name is Patrick Cox and I am Vice-President for Networks at H-Net. I am also the interim editor of H-W-Civ.

You've no doubt noticed this network has been awfully quiet of late. This is has been the result of the network having no editors to run it. H-Net networks are run by scholars and other experts who are interested in building unique resources for their fields. I posted calls for new editors on November 5 and November 10, 2015 and I inserted language about the need for new editors on the front page of H-W-Civ some time ago. These efforts have received no response. When no wants to run an H-Net network, we typically decommission it.

On March 15, 2016, H-Net Council and officers will hold their quarterly business meeting. At that meeting I anticipate asking Council to vote on decommissioning this network...unless someone volunteers to take over.

H-Net Commons is a flexible, expandable web 2.0 format, meaning we can do many things listserves and discussion boards can't. We are built to publish and host multimedia resources, from text to image galleries and videos. We can build these into highly organized and easily searchable collections that can be curated for usability. We can do the same with other collections, like course syllabi or reading lists. We can and do host podcasts and publications, from blogs and roundtables to peer reviewed content. H-Net networks also puts out an unparalleled collection of book reviews and reviews of exhibitions and other events that could make an important contribution to this field. And we have a staff that is expanding our capabilities all the time in response to requests from editors.

What's needed on H-W-Civ are folks who know the field, who can make a fair assessment of what it needs and what people in it might want, and are willing to work with each other and our tech-savvy staff to get things done. Its good if editors are "tech-comfy" and we do provide training but the main focus for editors is to be experts in the field, not web wizards. We've got a lot of tools here, and can do more than I've mentioned. If you are interested in putting these tools to use for the field and H-W-Civ's nearly 500 subscribers, please get in touch with me.